Acceptance
by xRedRubyx
Summary: Max is an ordinary girl with nothing special about her. Or so she thinks. After a scary encounter where a mysterious man named Fang and his blind friend, Iggy, comes to her rescue, she does her best to forget the whole thing. However, that won't turn out to be as easy as she'd hoped.
1. Chapter 1

The lock to the diner clicked as Max turned the key and sighed. It had been a long day and she was thankful it was over. As she turned away from the door she quietly cleared her throat and discreetly checked her surroundings, mentally preparing herself for the unnerving walk home. She was being watched.

A few weeks ago, Max had been serving as a waitress on a quiet Tuesday. She was extremely bored with her job but didn't really have a better option at the moment, so she forced herself to smile and be polite and pretend she was happy to receive a few dollars in reward for forty minutes to an hour's worth of work serving a needy group of people. At first, it had felt like any other day. The bell on the door rang as it was pulled open and a new customer came in and took a seat. She let out a long breath as she walked over and , like a switch was turned on, she put on a bright smile and said, "Hello, my name is Max and I'll be your server today. Our specials today are…"

As she went through the memorized speech she began to feel quite uncomfortable. The man had a young, boyish face but was well over six feet and extremely fit, his eyes fixed, unmoving, on her. His stare made her very uncomfortable, especially when she felt it on her even as she walked away to get the coffee he ordered. It followed her back too. Max slowly set down the cup as she held his gaze and she let out a nervous huff and a half smile in an attempt to break the mood. His face did not change and he did not blink. Max began to walk away, when suddenly a large hand grasped her wrist.

"You're more beautiful than I remember," he said.

She blinked, getting herself together.

"I'm sorry…Have we met?"

He grinned, gently and unnervingly. A few beats were spent in silence and Max began to think he wouldn't answer and was wondering just what the hell was going on when he whispered, "You shouldn't remember me. But don't worry, you'll remember soon enough, I'm sure," and slid his hand off her wrist.

"Wha-?"

"You have a nice day, Max," he said.

She blinked a few times and walked away. That was the first time Max remembers meeting Ari. There was no way she'd met him in school, as he was at least 5 years older than she. She was absolutely certain she'd never seen him before- he didn't look the least bit familiar. Max found herself glancing over at him many times as she walked to and fro other tables. After handing a child some crayons, she turned to see again, but the man was gone. He'd left a twenty on the table for his cup of coffee.

Walking home that night, she stared at her feet dragging along the sidewalk. She'd been standing for many hours and they hurt but she was used to it. She looked up and watched her breath turn a misty white in the cool night air, calm and relaxed, but when she looked straight ahead, she stopped immediately. The same man she'd met earlier was there, leaning against a tall lamp post, grinning at her. Her cold hands clenched tightly in her coat pockets.

"Hello, Max," he said.

She did not return the smile or the greeting. She swallowed.

The man pushed himself off the post and stood up straight. "You know, you really should pay a little more attention when you're headed home. It's very dangerous for a pretty girl like you to be all alone out here in the dark."

Her heart raced but she said, "I can handle myself pretty well." It came out a little bit too delicately, but she was proud of herself anyway.

He began to walk toward her when a group of people her age came laughing and hollering from around the corner. She turned to see, on instinct, and when she turned around again, he was gone. She had hurried home.

Unfortunately, this was not a one time occurrence. She saw him often after that while on her way to her apartment from work and, occasionally, in the middle of the day too. Max was tough, but she had to admit to herself that the whole situation was a little unnerving.

Still, she held her own and dealt with it. However, tonight was different. She was walking at a brisk pace when she felt more than heard someone behind her. She turned around quickly and halted. He was there. Her heart rate came faster and faster and she inhaled deeply. He'd never come this close before. Thinking quickly, she turned to run but there was a vice grip on her arm and hand over her mouth to mute her scream. She kicked out and began fighting with a passion, but he held her firmly.

She was absolutely panicked. The staring and the smiles were strange and scary, but she never thought he'd do anything like this. 'So stupid, so stupid. Run! Run! Run!' she thought.

"Shut up!" he grunted. "You're going to ruin it! I'm trying to help you!"

He sounded almost afraid, but not as much as Max, who began to struggle even harder as she bit down on his hand.

He let out a curse and slammed her into the wall before dragging her into a nearby alley. He was inhumanly strong. She did not let up her fight, however, and was beginning to scream out when a voice stopped her.

"You have always seemed to struggle with your intelligence, Ari, but I'm sure you can see she wants to be left alone."

The voice was deadly quiet,deep and very calm. She could not locate it. Ari blinked before a look of rage came over his face and he looked up with a glare.

"Stay out of it, Fang!" Ari shouted. "You don't want to mess with me!"

Max's eyes followed Ari's gaze. There were two young men on the roof of the building she was pushed against. She could only make out the outlines of their heads as they stared down at them.

"Actually, I do," Fang said and promptly jumped off the roof. Max's eyes widened and she gasped as she watched him fall, and was followed by the other, but true astonishment set in when they both landed on their feet, their knees barely bending from the impact. It was at least a four story drop.

"Leave her alone," the other man said.

There was a stare down, mainly between Fang and Ari. The other's eyes were not focused exactly on them, downcast with his head tilted to the side as if to hear better. Max realized with a start that he was blind. Then Ari said, "No I don't think I will, Iggy. You know I'm stronger than you."

"Let's fight then," Fang said. "You want to take both of us? Here we are."

Ari stayed still for a moment, his only movements his eyes rapidly going from Max to Fang and Iggy, and his hand tightening and loosening around her throat.

"You'll regret this," said Ari and, suddenly, his shirt fell with a terrible ripping noise and behind his back, there were wings. Before she could stop it, Max let out a cry, but the noise was drowned out by a whooshing noise as the wings pushed downwards and Ari was off into the air. On the first stroke,the tips of the wings came together so close to Max that she felt the tips of feathers brush her face. Max thought she'd hyperventilate or die or die from hyperventilating or faint…

She stood for a moment, unsure of everything and what to do and what just happened when a voice said, "Max?"

Her eyes snapped to Fang as she tried to catch her breath. She felt like she'd had the wind knocked out of her.

"How do you know me?" It was meant to be a yell but it came out a shaky whisper. In fact, she was shaking everywhere.

"Max-" he began, but suddenly everything that had just happened caught up to her and with a gasp she pushed herself away from the wall and ran all the way home, not slowing down once even when she felt her lungs would burst from no oxygen. She didn't change her clothes and barely took off her shoes and coat before sliding under the blankets of her bed, wide awake the rest of the night.


	2. Chapter 2

Okay, so this is a slightly different, but hopefully better, rewrite of a story I had posted and deleted before finishing a few years ago. This is not my best work so far, as I'm a little rusty right now, but it's meant for practice and fun. Hopefully, a lot of you will stick with it. Thank you for all the reviews, especially the one that caught a mistake which I have now fixed. Also, my goal is to write stories that people want to read because they find it interesting and want to find out what happens in the end. If you find yourself not wanting to continue reading, please review and tell me why. Thanks!

It had been a few days since the incident and Max had not seen Ari, Fang or Iggy since that night. The night everything happened she'd stayed in bed under the blankets, her heart racing and the whole thing playing itself over and over and over again. The scariest part was certainly the wings and they were hard to forget. She wanted to push away what she had seen, almost already believing it had been some sort of dream or hallucination. Of course, being able to assume that humans can't fly would certainly be too easy.

When she got to her apartment, after the usual brisk, cautious walk home, someone was at the front door. He looked up. It was Fang. Her heart stopped and she began to back pedal quickly.

This isn't real, she thought.

"Hey." A quiet smooth voice and a light brush on her arm and she immediately noticed the difference between this soft touch and the harmful hands of Ari. Despite herself, she knew he wouldn't hurt her. "Max, I'm here to help."

She breathed in and out, unable to concentrate on much else. She knew her mind should probably be racing, but it was completely blank of all thought and emotion. She truly did not know what to think.

"Who are you?" She turned around, gaining confidence. "What do you want from me? Why- I mean, how…How did…?" She wanted to ask about the wings, but honestly it sounded too crazy to say aloud. She had nearly convinced herself it hadn't really happened at all, but Fang was here and she knew she couldn't deny what she'd seen. She had so many questions that she needed to be answered, even if she didn't actually want to know them.

"My name is Fang. I know you're confused about what you saw and I know it probably scared you a lot. I can't explain everything right now, but I have to tell you one thing and you need to pay attention. You are in serious danger, Max, and I know that you don't know me but it's important that you know what I'm telling you. This is serious." He was very straight to the point.

"What do you mean 'I'm in danger'? Why? Whats going on? What was that- Who is Ari? Does it have to do with Ari? Is it him, is it that…thing? That-?"

Fang's eyebrows knitted together momentarily and he let out an amused grin. "'That thing,'" he repeated and shook his head, his face becoming serious once more. "Yes, it has to do with that and I promise I can explain everything later. I can keep you safe."

There was a pause filled with silence. She didn't know what she was supposed to say. The wind blew and she tightened her coat and blinked her eyes rapidly. Her breath rose into the cold air, looking like smoke, and she watched it, unsure of what else to do.

"There are others like him," Fang said, and after a beat, "And there are others like me."

Max swallowed. " What do you mean there are others like you?"

"We all stick together. It's a safe place to be. You'll be safe there."

Her mind started to spin. "You…you want me to go there? You want me to just follow you there? Without knowing-?"

"Yes," he said. "Especially without knowing. Because you have no idea whats happening and what you're up against. If you don't take my help, things will go very badly for you."

She couldn't speak but her head shook back and forth rapidly. No, no, no. Fang reached out to her and she jerked back. He slowly held his hands up in surrender.

"I'm not like him. I won't force you. But like I just said, he will force you, and you wont enjoy where he takes you. Come with me. I can keep you safe. I kept you safe the other night. I don't want to hurt you."

In all honesty, she really didn't care what he wanted. She wanted to know what the hell was going on, why all these strangers knew her name, why this stranger thought she would agree to just go off into the night with him, why she was in sudden danger and on which date, exactly, people started sprouting wings. The answers had to be in no particular order.

"You- you can't expect me to just leave with you." It was a statement, but it sounded like a question.

"I didn't but it was worth a shot," he said matter of factly. "We've been watching out for you. I know Ari hasn't been back recently, but don't let your guard down, because he will be. You can count on that."

She did not know what to say so she didn't speak. She heard her heartbeat.

"I'm sorry you have to deal with this," said Fang. He then turned and walked down the front steps, turning into a nearby alleyway. Her stomach did a flip when she heard a familiar whooshing and flapping sound. She shook her head in denial and did not try to see anything she wasn't meant to. She opened the door, went to her apartment- after much fumbling with the keys- and got in the bed. She did not have work tomorrow and made no plans to move anytime soon. She thought of telling someone, the police maybe, but how could she explain the story without mentioning the wings? Without that little detail, a strange man named Ari had watched her for a bit and then pushed her against a wall, two men scared him off and she hadn't seen him since. There was nothing to be done about that. On the other hand, the truth would land her in a mental ward. She sighed and tried to sleep. She would think of an answer tomorrow…

She spent her day off alone, inside, with the drapes drawn shut, though at certain times during the day she slipped some open, just a bit, and peered out, looking for anything out of the ordinary. She ended up calling in sick the day after, and after some thinking, decided to take more than just a day. She spent her time thinking and trying to forget. She'd resorted, again, to believing it wasn't at all real and she had just had an odd bout of hallucinations and she'd needed rest to feel better. She'd been working too hard was all.

In a few days she went back to work. It was a normal day, though she couldn't help but look up sharply every time the door opened. That night, she was, thankfully, not the one who locked up, but she still had to walk home in the dark. It wasn't that late yet, though, and there were a fair amount of people still walking along the sidewalks. She stayed on the outer edges, away from the alleys, but she would not admit to herself why. What she had seen was not real. She repeated this in her mind firmly. That's when she saw Ari again.

He was at the end of the sidewalk, waiting. She inhaled sharply, coming to a stop and staring at him, not showing any trace of fear. She turned to go the other way, when someone who looked very similar to Ari stopped her.

"You don't want to do that, Max," the man said. The next thing she knew she was being walked backwards, the end of a knife discreetly being held against her abdomen. Her heart was in overdrive, mimicking her racing thoughts. She was going into survival mode, her body panicked at the threat. She'd felt this feeling too often this past week.

"Hey, Maxi," said Ari, sauntering around the corner. "I've been waiting for you."

"So has everyone else, thanks to you, Ari," the other snapped. "This was too easy. Honestly, you should've been able to handle this on your own."

"I told you they-!"

"Right. Whatever. I don't care. Let's just go," he said gruffly, his hand squeezing around Max's throat tightly to the point that she choked out and scratched at his hands and wrists, anything to relieve the pressure.

Ari sighed and pulled out a syringe. Max tried to cry out for someone, anyone, to help but it was dark, they were in an alley and she couldn't force out a sound loud enough for anyone to hear and the man wouldn't budge an inch. Her vision was going fuzzy, as was her head. She vaguely heard Ari flicking the syringe a few times before walking toward her, when suddenly the hand was gone and she was on the ground, gasping for air like she was drowning.

She heard Ari curse and saw Iggy on the man, saw Fang land on the ground behind the two. Ari stood still for a moment, as did Fang, both waiting, before Ari lunged, not at Fang, but at Max. The needle pricked her and half the contents were emptied before Fang was there and Ari was having his head slammed into the wall. Ari pushed him off and they wrestled to the ground. Blood was on the wall where Ari's head had been smashed, yet he seemed unfazed. Max, however, was losing her vision and feeling in her limbs. The syringe slipped off and her eyes fluttered closed, and she vaguely realized she was laying down. Despite the fighting going on, she heard only faint rustling noises as they wrestled about, the loudest noise she heard the ringing in her ears. She lost consciousness, or maybe she didn't- she couldn't be completely sure- but the next thing she knew was arms around her, a jolt and a floating feeling she had never experienced before.


End file.
